News from around the Pacific Northwest: January 2013

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Idaho Scientist seeks to launch aerial Bigfoot search

An Idaho scientist with the Idaho State University is shrugging off skeptics and drawing up plans to launch a blimp equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment in a search for bigfoot – also known as, Sasquatch.

Jeffrey Meldrum, an anatomy and anthropology professor, is seeking to raise $300,000 in private donations to build the remote controlled dirigible. It will be equipped with thermal imaging cameras. Meldrum, author of “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” believes that the creature may have descended from a giant ape that once inhabited Asia and crossed the Bering land bridge into North America.

The Falcon Project, may continue for months, and include searches into the swaths of remote forests across the Pacific Northwest including northern tiers of California, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

Cascadia (technically known as Oregon) Wine hailed as America’s best

California has been voted off the map when it comes to producing world-class pinot noir. Wine Spectator, the industry’s leading publication, heaps lavish praise on Oregon in its latest issue, glowingly pronouncing that the state is now second-to-none in this country when it comes to its signature wine grape.

The Oregon wine industry, while only comprising about 1% of wine created nationally has turned into a rapidly growing $2.7 billion industry, relying not on quantity, but instead quality. The Wine Spectator notes that the only real competition in taste comes not from California, but instead France’s celebrated Cote d’Or growing region 200 miles southeast of Paris.

Nationwide, young voters are less likely to vote this year than in 2008, but in Washington State, they’re more engaged than ever before.

These results were showed in a new poll from Pew Research Center showed that young people are less politically engaged now than any time in the past five elections. A feeling of disengagement from the federal process, of the government being out of touch, a feeling that their votes make little impact, non-representation, and a large amount of disenfranchisement from generation Y’ers disappointed by the reality of an Obama administration much less impressing than his historical 2008 nomination are all contributing factors. But, the trend is not just one sided. Engagement from Republican voters under 40 declined on a comparable level to voters in the same age group, and support for US congress and other branches of the Federal government continues to hit historic lows.

But Washington state is writing its own story. With R-74 and I-502 for the legalization of Marijuana and Gay Marriage, youth are more engaged than ever before, showing how local elections and representation can serve as a catalyst to get people involved. This interest extends not just to the polling box, but also for the record breaking amount of youth volunteering with canvassing organizations, as well as educational and social organizations around issues that they care about. Youth are excited to see how Cascadia is continuing to set itself apart from the rest of the country and take the national lead on issues they care about, eager to get involved as we move towards a more equal and just society, representative of the values of those living within the Pacific Northwest.

Brandon Letsinger is the CascadiaNow! Founder, Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF) board member, and Cascadia Underground director. He is an open source and independent media advocate, bioregionalist, movement builder and dusty, sneezy used book proprietor of Horizon Books on Capitol Hill in Seattle WA.